Daniel J. Lynch, 88, Chicago Firefighter for 41 Years
Matthew Kruk
Chicago firefighter for 41 years
DAVID J. LYNCH | 1921-2009: WWII Navy vet rose in rank to deputy
commissioner
November 23, 2009
BY CHERYL V. JACKSON Staff Reporter/cjac...@suntimes.com
Daniel J. Lynch worked in the Chicago Fire Department for 41 years,
serving in ranks from firefighter to deputy commissioner.
Mr. Lynch died Saturday at Resurrection Hospital after suffering heart
and lung trouble and being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 88.
He was born July 1, 1921, in Chicago and raised on the West Side with
his brother and sister. His father was an Irish immigrant who worked for
the Chicago Police Department, retiring as a sergeant. His mother, a
first-generation American of Irish descent, died after contracting
pneumonia from Mr. Lynch when he was 6 years old.
Mr. Lynch attended Resurrection and Visitation grade schools and
graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1939 before enrolling at
DePaul University.
He served in the Navy in World War II in the Pacific.
He loved being in the field, especially on his native West Side, said
his son Daniel J. Lynch Jr. His principal work as deputy commissioner
was to serve as ombudsman between the men in the field and the
administration.
"He was extremely well-liked by the firemen he worked with over all
those years; a true fireman's fireman," said Daniel Lynch Jr., of
Chicago.
Mr. Lynch married Frances McGee in 1946 after meeting her a few years
earlier at Sears on Homan Avenue, where she worked as a sales clerk.
"He said he knew the moment he saw her that he was through shopping,"
his son said.
They had been married for more than 62 years when she died in January.
"He loved to tell his grandchildren about his life. And he liked to
preach to them a little bit, talk to them about life and its challenges,
how they should conduct themselves," his son said. "They centered around
being courteous, being kind, being competitive."
When dining out, Mr. Lynch would stack plates on one side of the table
to make cleanup easier for busboys and wait staff.
After Hiroshima, he showed compassion to a couple of Japanese kids in
tattered clothing near where he was stationed and handed them doughnuts,
incurring grief from fellow sailors.
"He told me that after 60 years, he still got a kick out of it and
seeing their glee," his son said.
As marshal in a local Fourth of July parade, Mr. Lynch pulled a
"castoff" from the sidelines to join him in the procession, his son
said.
"He was a simple guy interested in the ordinary person and their dignity
and getting to know them," Daniel Lynch Jr. said. "It was a daily
privilege and an honor to be his son."
Also surviving Mr. Lynch are his brother, James Lynch of River Forest;
sister, Mary Kennedy of Lake Mary, Fla.; three other sons, the Rev.
Jeremiah Lynch of Wilmette, Thomas Lynch of Chicago and James Lynch of
Lake Forest, and daughters Catherine Dore, Margaret Whittelsey and
Maureen Lynch, all of Chicago, and Mary Nicholl of Arlington Heights.
Four of the eight children lived within three blocks of the Edgebrook
neighborhood home in which they grew up.
A wake will be from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at St. Mary of the Woods
Catholic Church, 7033 N. Moselle. The Rev. Jeremiah Lynch will say
funeral mass at the church at 10 a.m. Wednesday.